I recently got into loops. This is pretty much what I did, I used drum beats from Jam Packs by Apple and just place it in Garageband. Put a few shaker and some percussion stuff on to it, add some effects, convert it to an mp3 and load it on to my iPod and play it. I don't know if you'd want to call that a loop.

Right now, I wanna take it a step further but I have no idea how because I'm so new to this, I'd get a headache using Live and Reason due to its complicated interface and all these new features and buttons.

The other thing I read about is that it's possible to run a metronome click on my left ear and the drum loops/synths/backtracks on my right ear. I downloaded a couple of metronome mp3 that's either a hi hat, cowbell or snare sound and I wanna put it on to Garageband. For some reason, when I change the tempo, the metronome doesn't change. I tried converting it to .aif file, it still won't work.

Once again, I'm like in my infant stage at this and it'd be a great big help if you guys can guide me on this, I'm trying to take my band to the next level. Thanks guys!

I find Reason to be a pain in the rear, although I have several musicians friends who swear by it.

And yes, what you describe is a real loop.

I'm not familiar with garage band, but does it have midi? You could then get a simple sound plug in, and use midi to program out custom clicks. Or get a simple click plug in that lets you set the tempo. I make custom clicks in Protools all the time, but I'm not sure how it works in garage band.